Battle of Ashdown

The Battle of Ashdown was fought on 8 January 871 AD during the Viking invasions of England. Prince Alfred the Great, the brother of King Aethelred of Wessex, defeated the invading Danes under Halfdan Whiteshirt and Bagsecg. Ashdown was the first Anglo-Saxon victory over the Vikings since the Great Heathen Army's invasion six years earlier, and it forced King Halfdan to withdraw to his kingdom of Northymbre.

Background
In 865 AD, during the reign of King Aethelred of Wessex, an armada of hundreds of Viking warships carrying an international army of Danes, Norsemen, and Swedes (the "Great Heathen Army") from Ireland, Frisia, Francia, Scandinavia, and Pictland landed at Thetford to launch a full-scale invasion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The army was originally led by the sons of Ragnarr Lodbrok: Ivar the Boneless of Sudreyjar, Halfdan Whiteshirt of Jorvik, and Ubbe Ragnarrsson, who sought to avenge the death of their father at the hands of Aella of Northumbria. After landing in East Anglia, the Vikings forced King Edmund of East Anglia to give them horses and supplies before marching north to capture the capital of Northumbria, York. Northumbria became a bastion of Scandinavian culture for two centuries as "Jorvik", and the army gathered more and more warriors to their banner from across the Scandinavian world. They marched south into Mercia and captured Nottingham, forcing King Burghred of Mercia to call on the aid of Wessex. However, no fighting occurred, as Ivar and his men remained in the walls of Nottingham, and Burghred bribed the Vikings to return to their fields in York. The sons of Lodbrok kept their word, having been enriched by the bribery. They proceeded to return to East Anglia and stamp out the kingdom entirely, martyring Edmund; East Anglia became another foothold of the Danes for two centuries. In 870 AD, the Viking army split, with Ivar leading a half of the army to conquer Alt Clud in southern Scotland, and the other half remaining in Northumbria and East Anglia. Halfdan took center-stage as he led part of the army south, bypassing Mercia and raging deep into Wessex. Halfdan, along with the fellow warlord of Bagsecg, fortified themselves in the town of Reading. King Aethelred and his brother Alfred gathered their levies and attacked Reading on 4 January 871, but they suffered a minor defeat. Over the next few days, the West Saxons regrouped, and they attacked the Vikings again at Ashdown in Berkshire four days later.

Battle
In the mist and gloom of a mid-winter's morning, the most decisive battle yet of the war was fought. Aethelred divided his army in two, deploying them on either side of a ridgeway; he shared command of the army with his younger brother, Prince Alfred. As the Danes approached, they also split their army between Halfdan and Bagsecg. Alfred and his contingent formed a shield wall as the Danes grew closer, while Aethelred decided to pray before the battle, refusing to advance until his prayer service was complete. Seeing that the Danish movement would cost him the high ground, Alfred charged uphill without the support of the second contingent, heading into the heart of the Danish lines. Not realizing that Alfred's force was only a half of the West Saxon army, the second force of the Danes also moved against them. The battle turned into an hours-long, brutal hand-to-hand slog between shield walls. After heavy fighting and significant losses on both sides, Aethelred's force, obscured in the mist, surprised the Danes and turned the tide. Bagsecg was killed in the fighting, while Halfdan called on his men to fall back. After six years of defeat, the Anglo-Saxons had finally emerged victorious against the Great Heathen Army.

Aftermath
While Ashdown was not a decisive victory, it proved costly for Halfdan, who had to be more cautious about his future plans for Wessex. Fortunately for Halfdan and his remaining warriors, reinforcements - the "Great Summer Army" under Guthrum - arrived to join them. Aethelred and Alfred, nicknamed the "Boar of Ashdown", continued to fight the Danes over the coming months, and Aethelred died of his wounds in April 871. Alfred became the new king, and he bribed Halfdan to withdraw north to become king in Northumbria; Guthrum moved east to take control of the Vikings of East Anglia. However, the peace did not last, leading to the Battle of Edington in 878.